Light Summer

Aug 9, 20246 min read

The Light Summer palette is delicate, soft, gentle and feminine, resting on the cusp of Summer and Spring. Think of the long early-summer days in June, when the grass is fresh and the skies are blue.

Light Summer is the lightest of the Summer palettes, blending the dusty, muted and soft qualities of Summer with the freshness, lightness and brightness of Spring.

The overall impression of Light Summer is delicate, and ethereal with colours that are light, cool, soft and pastel-like.

Who Falls into the Light Summer Season?

Light Summers will have obvious lightness to their appearance with light hair, skin and eyes (relative to their ethnicity).

The only way to really determine your color season is through draping, however, there tend to be certain features that Light Summers have, but keep in mind that there are always exceptions.

Skin: Cool to neutral undertones, often with a light and clear appearance. The skin may have a pink or porcelain quality, giving a fresh and bright look.
Eyes: Light and bright eye colours such as light blue, light green, or soft grey. The eyes might have an element of slight greyness to them, even if they are blue or green.
Hair: Lightest ash blonde (level 10N) to light brown (level 6N), often with a cool, ashy undertone. Light Summer hair lacks any strong golden or red hues and the hair typically has an ashy quality.

Light Summers have a naturally light, airy and ethereal appearance, and their best colours are those that mirror this delicacy and brightness without being too harsh or dark.

Light Summer features: eyes, skin and hair

How Do You Know if You're a Light Summer?

Each season has a primary, secondary, and tertiary feature. Your primary feature is your dominant and the most obvious feature. Your secondary and tertiary features might be a little less obvious and harder to determine. Your secondary and tertiary features might be a little less obvious and harder to determine, but they are still equally as important in determining your coloring. For Light Summers, their features are the following:

Primarily Feature: Light. Light Summers will have light colouring with light hair, eyes and skin.
Secondarily Feature: Cool. Light Summers are a neutral-cool season on the slightly cooler side, meaning that they can pull off both warm and cool tones, however, cool tones will really make them shine.
Tertiarily Feature: Muted. Light Summer colours are slightly more muted than they are bright. There will be a slight dusty quality to their appearance.

Light Summer features gradient: cool, light and muted

To determine if you are a Light Summer, consider the following steps:

Depth: Are your features (hair, eyes, skin, lips) primarily light, medium or dark? If they are dark or medium-dark, then you can eliminate Light Summer from your palette. If your features are light or medium-light, then you might be a Light Summer.
Contrast levels: Are your skin, hair and eyes all a similar depth or do you have much darker hair relative to your skin? Light Summers will usually have lower contrast, i.e. skin, hair and eyes that are all light and around the same level of depth.
Cool vs Warm: Do you look better in light blues, light pinks, violets and blue-greens or does your face light up in yellows, peaches and corals? Cooler tones, like light blues, pinks and violets will harmonise much better with a Light Summer. If you find that you’re more radiant in warmer colours, then check out Light Spring instead.
Chroma: Are your features more bright or muted? Can you wear bright clothing or do you look better in more muted colors? Light summer will typically have slightly muted features but not as muted as Soft Summer.

Light Summer features, natural coloring and examples

The best way to determine your season is to do a drape test. You can either purchase a physical drape test fan or try some digital tools online like vivaldicolor.com, Dressika, and others. Or, just find different color pieces in your wardrobe, compare them to each other and take notes!

You want to look for colors that smooth your skin out, lift your jawline and bring out your eyes, lips and eyebrows. The colors should harmonise with you, not being too overpowering and also not washing you out.

Also, take note of the colors that you really don't like on yourself. This can offer some clues to your season as well.

If you find that you look best in light, cool, and soft shades, then you might just be a Light Summer!

Best Colors for Light Summer

Light Summers have a gorgeous, feminine and girly palette at their disposal. The colors are mixed with a hint of light gray, creating a beautiful light and soft palette.

Some of their most flattering colours include:

Blues: Light periwinkle, soft sky blue, powder blue, baby blue
Greens: Mint green, seafoam, light aqua, lime green, apple green
Purples: Lavender, lilac, soft violet
Pinks: Baby pink, blush, light rose, barbie pink
Neutrals: Light grey, cool beige, soft white, ivory, taupe
Yellows: Soft lemon, pale yellow

These colours should be light and cool, avoiding overly dark or warm tones that can overpower the delicate Light Summer features.

Colors to Avoid for Light Summer

Light Summer Worst Colors, Colors to avoid as a light summer — Worst Colors for Light Summers

Jewelry for Light Summer

Light Summers look otherworldly in soft silver and pale gemstones. The best options include:

Metals: Silver, white gold, platinum, and light brushed metals
Stones: Pearls, light blue topaz, aquamarine, light amethyst, opal, rose quartz

Avoid heavy or overly dark jewellery, which can clash with the light, airy quality of the Light Summer palette. Think "Fairy Princess".

Hair Colors for Light Summer

Light Summer (along with Light Spring) is the season for natural blondes. The natural hair of light summer will typically be between a level 6N and level 10N with a slightly cooler and ashier undertone. Light Summers will almost always be blonde in childhood and for some, the hair stays blond but for others, it darkens to a dark ashy blonde or light brown.

It’s important to maintain the light and cool quality of the natural hair of Light Summers. Hair that is too dark will feel heavy on them and hair that is too bright or too warm might feel off.

Flattering hair colour choices include:

Blonde (levels 7-10): Platinum blonde, ash blonde, cool beige blonde, champagne blonde, old money blonde
Brown (level 6): Light ash brown, cool light brown
Highlights: Soft, cool highlights with a natural shadow root can add dimension without overwhelming the natural colour.

Avoid warm, golden, or overly dark shades that can contrast too sharply with the cool, light undertones.

Read more about the Best Hair Colors for Summer Seasons and get some inspiration on Pinterest.

Makeup for Light Summer

Makeup for Light Summers should be gentle, delicate and feminine enhancing their natural features with light, cool tones. Key makeup tips include:

Foundation: Choose foundations with cool or neutral undertones that match your skin.
Blush: Blush in the shades of soft pink, and light rose works well.
Eyeshadow: Shades of cool taupe, light grey, pastel blue, and soft lavender can look beautiful.
Lipstick: Choose light, cool shades like baby pink, soft rose, light mauve, and cool coral. Avoid dark or overly warm lip colours since these can overpower your delicate features.
Eyeliner and Mascara: Soft brown, grey, or cool taupe shades of eyeliner and mascara work better than black which can be too harsh.

More ideas on Pinterest.

Sister Season: Light Spring

If you are a Light Summer then you should be able to borrow colors from your sister season - Light Spring where the colors are light, bright and slightly warm.

Light Summer's sister season is Light Spring. Both seasons are primarily light with lightness being their most obvious feature. Light Springs, however, are warmer and brighter. As a Light Summer, you may find that some colours from the Light Spring palette work well for you and you can borrow some colours from this palette. However, the gentle coolness and softness of the Light Summer palette is where your home is at!

Read more about Light Spring vs Light Summer.

Light Summer Celebrities

Some celebrities often typed as Light Summers include Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Naomi Watts, Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Michelle Pfeifer, Lili Reinhart, Sharon Stone, Billie Eilish, Dakota Fanning, Freya Allan, Natalie Domer, Yvonne Strahovski, Jodie Foster, Emma D'Arcy.

Male examples include Jude Law, Austin Butler, Aleksander Skarsgard, Jamie Campbell Bower, Matt Smith, Ryan Gosling, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, and Jack Quaid.

It's important to note though that none of these celebrities are verified Light Summers and it can be difficult to determine the color season of celebrities from photos alone. However, these are some people that I see have the qualities of Light Summer and that other color analysts have also speculated might be Light Summers.